Electric valve-operating device.



T. I I. WURMB & R. BAUMANN.

l `ELECTRIC VALVE OPERATING DEVICE.

LIPLIOATIOI` PILED AUG. 29, 1910. n 1,022,914'. Patented Apns, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

ELECTRIC VALVE OPERATING DEVICE.

'APPLICATION FILED AUG. 29. 1910.

Patented Apr. 9, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

.ai a Z 3 .1.JI. W 8 W 2 e a n@ T. H. WURMB &.R. BAUMANN. ELECTRIC VALVE OPERATING DEVICE. APPLICATION PILBD AUG.29,1910.

Patented Apr. 9, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

UNITED sTATEsPATENT OIBFIC13kl i THEODORE H. WURMB AND ROBERT BAUMANN, or sT. LOUIS, MISSOURI, As'sIGNORs To NATIONAL CLOCK & ELECTRIC MANUFACTURING Co., or sT: LOUIS, itIIssoUnLAk CORPORATION F MISSURI.

ELECTRIC VALVE-OPERATING DEVICE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, THEODORE H. WURMB 'and ROBERT BAUMANN, citizens of the United States, andresidents ofSt. LouisMissouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Valve-Operating Devices, of which the following is a specificat-ion containing a full clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

Our invention relates to an improved electric valve-operating device,l especially designed for use with our improved thermostatic circuit controller which forms the subject matter of a separate' application; although our improved electric valve may, of course, be used with any of the thermal circuit controllers heretofore known.

The object of our invention is to provide an improved electric valve-Operating device which can be readily controlled at a distance by a thermostatic circuit controller, for the purpose of automatically opening and closing the steam or hot water valves of radial tors in heating systems and also for controlling shutters,l registers or draft doos and dampers of furnaces.

In carrying out our present invention wel preferably make use of a valve which is an improvement upon the disk .valve heretofore patented by us under date of January 12, 1904, United States Patent No.' 749,518.

Our invention consists in novel construci tion of parts, and in .the-combination of delfront sectional elevation'of 'the valve and the means for operating same by hand, when desired; Fig. (5 is a detail section of the auxiliary switch, for manually operating the valve in case the' automatic,circuit-closing Specification of Letters Patent.

device-*should become` disabled from any cause. Fig. 7 Y is a sectional plan-view of Patented Apr. 9, 1912.4 Application inea August 29,' icio. serial No, 579,460.

saine. Fig. 8 is a diagramniatiowieiv, showing the electrical connections of our im# proved valve,

The valve consists of the cast body, 1

which s cylindrical in form in the present instance, and the interior of which is divided i' by a vert-ical partition 2. The valve 3 is in .the form .of arocking-disk, and is mounted within said .casing in contact with said par-` tition 2, which latter forms the seat for said valve. 130th the valve and its seat are provided witha series of kregistering apertures .4t for the passage ofthe fluid when the valve is open. A central brace 5 extends from the center of said partition to the wall of the casing. Att-he back of said casing lis formed theoutlet' 6, which is shown as the usual threaded pipe-connection to which isv attached the coupling "Y, and the radiator 8y is connected to 'said coupling by the nippley 9. The front of the casing 1 is preferably closed by the screw-lid 10, which may readily be detached when it is necessary to gain access to the valve-chamber. Theinlet-pipe 11 is threaded into a pipe-connection 12 at the bottom of the casing, so that theincoming fluid will be discharged into the Casing in `front of the valve 3. The front sideof. said partition should of course be faced and tional area of the inlet or outlet; in the present case six apertures in the valve are shown of the'proper size for the work required of them.

Hereinafter, We shall designate the part 3 as thelvalve-disk. Said valve-disk is rocked l in use by means of a short horizontal shaft 13 which is passed through a stuffing-box 14 carried by the screw-lid 10, `and the inner end of said shaft is provided with a squaredportion lwhich lits into a similarly-shaped recess of the boss 16 on the front of said valve-disk. (See Fig. 3). a A suitable-coiled spring 16 presses said valve-disk to its seat, or any other known means the equivalent of said spring may be used for such purpose. A rocking-movement is imparted to the shaft 13 by the armature 17 which vibrates be- I tween the opposite cores of two 'tro-magnets 18, 19, and 20, 21. AIn this con-- pairs of elecabled to`move and controlmuch larger and heavier valves, shutters, re isters, dampers and the like, than they cou d were our ime quickly carrying proved means not employed.

One of the important elements of our improved means for rocking the valve, shutter, damper or like divice, is what we term our two-in-one rocker-arm or rock-lever 22,

the lower end of which is. fixed upon 'the' Aouter free end of said rock-shaft 13. The

uliarity about this lever 22 is the fact that 1t performs the functions of a long lever in starting the load from a state of rest, the power being applied to said lever at a comparatively great distance from its fulcrumpoint; thereby enabling theload or weight lto be moved with greater ease than it would be if the power were applied to the lever at a point nearer its fulcrum; and then, after the load has been started, power is applied to said lever at a point much nearer its fulcrum, thereby accelerating the movement of the load and quickly carrying the same to its destination. It will thus be seen that our two-in-one rock-lever -22 renders the electro-magnets much more efficient than they would be if a common lever were used in place of our said lever to apply the power of the electro-magnets to the work, such as rocking the valve-disk 3 by means of its shaft 13; and this is especially so because the .attractive-power of an electro-magnet is comparatively weak when the armature is located at its maximum distance from the magnet-poles (as in starting the load), and it is at just that point that our said twoin-onef lever acts as a long lever in a plying the power' of the electro-magnets, t ereby starting the load more promptly andpowerfully.` Likewise, after the load has been thus started, and the armature has approached the poles'of the electro-magnet, the increased attractive-(power of the electromagnet is then applied to the load (such as the valve-disk 3) by means of a short lever, thereby accelerating the load and it to its destination. Another very important element of our improved means for rocking the valve-disk is the device for a plying the force ofthe armature to the two-in-one lever 22, in changin it froma long lever toa short one. aid transformin -device, in its simplest form, consists as shown) of a.

short pin 23 projecting from the free end 'of the armature 17 into a slot 24 formed in the rock-lever 22 near the-upper end of same, and another pin 25 carried by an arm 26 which depends from the said armature, said last-mentioned pin projecting into another slot 27 formed in said lever at a point much nearer the lfulcruin of said lever than is said slot 24'.

Referring again to the armature 17, the same is pivoted at its rear end to a horizontal brass-bar 28 byjmeans of a pin 29, and said brass bar is supported by rear ward-extensions of the yokes 30 of said electro-magnets; said yokes being supported by a suitable frame 31 which rests on top of the valve-casing 1. Mounted in a plane above the electro-magnets, upon a suitable frame 32 is the insulating-base 33 of a two way switch' which will now be described in detail. The function of said switch is to automatically cut out one pair of said elec- Ytromagnets, and instantly cut in the opposite pair, whenever the circuit is closed on either pair of said magnets by the action of the distant thermostatic circuit-controller (not shown), said switch being operated by its connection with the armature417 of said electro-magnets, as will present-ly be described. Said switch consists of the said insulating-ba`se 33; the four terminal-plates 34, 35, 36, and 37, all fixed upon said base but insulated from each other; the rocking switch-lever 38 having the integral forked-- arm 39 and mounted upon the vertical pivot 40 so that the outer ends of said switchlever (which are flexible) may yieldingly 'ride upon and contact with said terminalplates; and the binding-posts 41, 42 and 43. Said forked-arm 39 of said switch-lever is engaged by a vertical insulated-pin 44 which projects upwardly from the armature 17 so that its insulated upper end is located between the forks of said forked-arm.

An auxiliary-switch, to be operated by hand, is provided for the purpose of closing and opening the circuit on the electro-mag nets in case the automatic circuit-controlling device` should get out of order. and this auxiliary-switch consists of the flexible metallic-strip 45 one end of which is fixed to the "bindingpost 42 and the free end of which is adapted to be forced into cont-act with a metallic-washer 46 by'the nut 47 on the threaded-post 48, which latter is mounted in the insulating-base 33 at a point closely-adjacent said binding-post 42. Said lexiblestrip 45 is provided withan oblong hole 49 through which passes said post 48 1n order that said parts may not" come in VContact with each other. (See Fig. 6). The

metallic-strip 45 of said auxiliary-switch is normally held in contact with said washer 46 by said nut 47. The electrical parts a battery or other common source of electricity 50, as shown in the diagrammaticview, Fig. 8, in which the two contact-points of the distanty thermostatic circuit-controller are indicated (for convenience) by t-he two usbbuttons 51 and 52. The rock-lever 22 .is provided with ahandle 53 at its upperl end.

The length y The operation is as follows: of the slots 24 and 2 7 in said rock-lever is so proportioned that when the armature 17 is pulled by one magnet the pin 23 will start the lever and the valve-disk, giving them considerable momentum, and then thel other pin 25 will pick up the load and move it to destination, fully opening` or ton 51.

closing the valve. 'Referring again to the diagrammatic-view, Fig. 8, by pressing the push-button 51 the valve will be turned of, and by pressing the push-button 52 the valve will be turned 011. When pushbutton 51 is pressed the current lowsfrom the battery to and through said button;v

to binding-post41; to terminal-plate 37; switch-lever 38; switch-plate 34; electromagnet coils 18 and 19; washer 46; strip 45; binding-post- 42, and thence back to the said battery, thus energizing said electromagnet coils and pulling the armature 17 to the poles of said coils, and said armature `carrying the said rock-lever with it sets the valve in a closed position, turning off the, steam or hot-water from the radiator 8 or doing any other common work. Said movement of said armature alsoturns the switch-lever 88 from out of contact with the plates 35 and 36 into contact' with plates k34 and 37thereby opening (and leaving the said circuit that had been previclosed, as described, by the push-but- A reverse movement of the parts 4takes place if the push-button 52 is pressed, the said switch-lever 38 changing the circuits and bridging the switch-plates'whicli are in circuit with the opposite push-butopen) ously ton, which is of course open at the time.

The route of the current from the battery 50 and other connections, when the pushbutton 52 is pressed, and when the switchlever 38 is in a reverse position from that in which it is shown in Fig. 8, may be read- V ily traced, and need not be described in detail. The switch-plate 38 is shown iii its reversed position in Fig. 4, which is, as already intimated, the position it assumes after the push-button 51 has been pressed', and before the said push-button52 has been pressed. The vauxiliary-switch (shown more clearly in Fig. 6) is of course closed during the operation above described, but if, from any cause the t-hermostatic circuitcontroller should become inoperative and fail to close or open the circuits on the electro-magnets, then,v the auxiliary-switch is used to open the circuits (to save the batteries. &c.) and the valve may be opened or closed by hand, the operator grasping the y handle 53.

What we claim is:

l.. electric valve-operating device, comprising the combination withaii'electro-magnetand its armature, of a d evice to be moved, an electric circuit in which said electro-magnet is included, a lever for applying the power of said electro-magnet and its armature to said device to be moved, and means for automatically changing the point on said lever at which the power is applied thereto for the movement of said device.

.2. An electric valve-operating device, comprising the combination of an electromagnet, its armature, a device arranged to be moved by the action of said armature, a rock-lever applied to said device, and means for Aautomatically changing the point on4 said rock-lever at which the power of said magnet is applied thereto. r

8. An electric valve-operating device, comprising an electro-magnet, its armature, a valve having a rock-shaftthe rock-lever arranged with two points at which. power may be applied to it, one of said points beingv located a greater distance from the fulcrum than is the other, and a device connected with said-armature, for applying the power first at the point on'said rock-lever which is fartherifrom the fulcrum and then changing the point ofapplication of power' to a point nearer the fulcrum ot' said rocklever. I

4. An electric valve-operating device, comprising an electro-magnet, its armature, a valve having a rock-shaft, a rock-lever fixed on said rock-shaft and having slots at different distances from the fulcrumpoint, a pin projectingfrom said armature into one of said slots, an arm depending from said armature and a pin carried by said arm and projecting into the other of said slots.

5. The combination with a pivoted arma- Y ture and electro-magnets `for operating the armature in diii'erent directions, of a device, to be actuated, having a lever, two separate and distinct means carried by said armature for engagement with said lever at different points relative the fulcrum of the lever, and means automatically operated by said armature for establishing a circuit to energize one of the magnets and-breaking a circuit to denergize the opposite magnet.

(3. The combination with a pivoted armature and electro-magnets for operating the armature in dierent directions, of a device, to be actuated, having a lever, two separate and distinct means carried by said armature for engagement with said lever at ditte-rent points relative the fulcrum of the lever, In testimony whereof, We llave signed our means automatically operated by sald armanames to this specification, in presence 0f 1o ture for establishing a circuit to energize two subscribing Witnesses. one of the magnets and breakmg a clrcult 1 THEODORE H. VURMB.

, to denergize the opposite magnet, which ROBERT BAUMANN.

means serves to automatically reverse the VVtnes'ses: current to deener 1Ze the energlzed magnet E. L. WALLACE, and energlze the energlzed magnet. N. G. BUTLER. 

